


Kageyama Tobio is a genius setter... but he is certainly not a genius

by blueberryredbull



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, Humor, Jealousy, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27192670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueberryredbull/pseuds/blueberryredbull
Summary: Kageyama’s hand goes into Hinata’s hair with very little finesse and squeezes his head. Hinata doesn’t seem to mind at all.It seems to Suga that two of his precious kōhai are in a courtship, of sorts.—Five times Kageyama was completely unaware that he had a boyfriend + the one time he was still completely unaware that he had a boyfriend but somebody finally tells him, bless their soul.(Tanaka laughs so hard, he changes pitch.)
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 21
Kudos: 164





	1. Sugawara

Sugawara Kōshi thrives on chaos. It’s one of the biggest reasons why he welcomed Karasuno’s first years with open arms.

Something that he does not thrive on, however, is Daichi’s stress level skyrocketing during practice. That — only that and completely _not_ because he thinks the first-years are adorable and reminds him of his delightful, bygone youth— is why he had taken it upon himself to supervise his rambunctious kōhai. And if that meant he occasionally listened in on their conversations or observed them for a few moments before making his appearance during practice, then it was well worth Daichi’s sanity. Sure, some might consider that spying or some form of privacy invasion, but he really was doing it for a good cause. That cause being his curiosity, of course. Suga doubts that there would be anything his first-years wouldn’t share with their charming senpai in the first place — they hardly seem to care about anything outside of volleyball.

—

It turns out that he was very wrong.

It’s early winter and Suga is finally settled into his routine of pausing elegantly for several minutes outside the open doors of the gymnasium before making his presence known, when he becomes aware of something quite amusing.

He watches as Kageyama, their genius setter, shoves his Karasuno sweater into Hinata’s hands while mumbling some sort of threat.

“If you catch a cold and miss out on practice, dumbass—” Kageyama is halfway through his sentence when Hinata cuts him off with a triumphant giggle followed by reassurance that he won’t — at least not when he has a sweater to keep him warm. Suga thinks that Hinata’s quip would have sounded more like a comeback if it hadn’t followed such an endearing laugh or came from someone who is now wearing a sweater several sizes too large. It’s kind of adorable how only the tips of Hinata’s fingers peak out from under the sleeves of the sweater or how the cream fabric reaches halfway down his volleyball shorts. What’s more adorable to Suga, however, is the flush of rouge on the tips of Kageyama's nose and ears when he notices. Kageyama’s hand goes into Hinata’s hair with very little finesse and squeezes his head. Hinata doesn’t seem to mind at all.

It seems to Suga that two of his precious kōhai are in a courtship, of sorts.

—

Later that night, Suga reconsiders his hypothesis. Borrowing clothes isn’t unusual amongst teammates, especially during the months when frost still lingers on the window panes. Suga thinks that perhaps he, ever the dramatic, could have easily assigned narrative to an innocent interaction. He himself had participated in similar activity only several months ago when he forgot his volleyball jacket at home. Daichi, who had already warmed-up, had insisted that Suga borrowed his until he was at least done his own warm-up. He had kept the jacket on well past warm-up, but Daichi hadn’t minded the slightest.

Very contrary to Daichi however, Kageyama just doesn’t seem the doting type. He certainly isn’t when it comes to any of his other teammates. He’s always seemed to have a soft spot for Hinata and Suga had always known their relationship was special, in a way. Is Suga really _assuming_ anything when it comes to those two?

He decides that he’s better off focusing on his readings or kanji homework before he’s too tied up in the speculation.

—

After approximately an hour, Suga is certainly not anywhere close to finishing his work but he is also not holed up in his room with a wall covered in pictures and red string, so he considers it an hour that he is proud of.

The hour _after_ that, however, Suga is a little less proud of.

Oikawa picks up on the first ring.

“You better have some delicious scandal for me, Suga-san! This is cutting into my precious time with Iwa-chan.” Oikawa’s voice croons way too close to the receiver.

It’s promptly followed by the aforementioned wing spiker grunting a curt “He’s not.” from the background of the call.

For all of his insufferable brattiness, Suga has come to admit that Oikawa truly is the only high school volleyball player in the miyagi prefecture who can match Suga’s own love for gossip and yet wouldn’t let that love compromise his ability to keep secrets. It makes him the perfect ally whenever he needs a conversation partner about Tanaka’s love for their manager, Suga’s ~~undying love~~ fondness for Daichi, or, in this specific instance, whether or not Kageyama and Hinata are dating.

“ _It’s not confirmed_ ,” Suga emphasizes, “But I think the freak duo are in a relationship.”

Suga pauses to let the news sink in, but jumps in again before he hears any response. “Or maybe just pining! I mean, who knows whether those two are actually capable of communication.”

Oikawa takes a lot longer to respond than Suga expects.

After a few moments of worrying he had run out of call minutes for the month, he hears a musical laugh on the other side of the line.

“I had a feeling ever since I saw that chibi-chan hit one of Tobio-chan’s impossible tosses,” Oikawa announces. “I guess my gaydar really is as precise as my jump serve.”

Suga almost doesn’t hear Iwaizumi hectoring in the background, “Maybe if you spend all that time honing your modesty instead, your girlfriend wouldn’t have dumped you, Shittyakawa.” 

Oikawa whines in response. “Iwa-chan, so mean! At least I have girls who want to date me!”

It becomes quite clear that Oikawa can’t help him today, so Suga decides that he’s better off spending the rest of his night recalling and analyzing every previous interaction he’s observed between the freak duo. _For fun, of course._

Besides, having heard Oikawa’s stories of him and Iwaizumi, they definitely have their own relationship to figure out first.

—

After less than twenty-four hours of thinking about a relationship that isn’t even his, Suga’s curiosity wins. By the following day’s practice, he has already decided how he will approach the topic. All of that flies quite violently out of the window, however, when he approaches the gymnasium and sees the freak duo.

Hinata and Kageyama’s hands are linked together and they seem to be pushing into each other. From the action itself, it seems that they are either mid-scuffle or inventing some lawless warm-up exercise. However, there doesn't seem to be any force or real input of energy and they’re both looking at Tanaka as he speaks.

The scene in front of him doesn’t make a lot of sense but Suga supposes he must be too old to know what teenagers are like these days. To him, it just seems kind of like the two first-years are, for a lack of a better word, _holding_ each other.

Tanaka’s presence reassures Suga that he’s not intruding on some intimate moment, so he brings up the question that’s been on his mind.

“Kageyama-kun, Hinata-kun! I actually wanted to ask, um,” Suga’s bafflement at the scene in front of him seems to annihilate all the eloquent diction he had planned and his mind draws a blank, “I was wondering if you two—”

He cuts himself off and tries again, “Would you consider yourselves, like, partners?”

Suga mentally facepalms so hard, he feels the shape of his hand against his forehead.

His question seems to be somewhat coherent, however, because Tanaka is laughing loud enough to almost make up for the rare silence from the two first-years.

For several moments, Hinata and Kageyama sport the exact same face of confusion. But when Hinata’s face slowly exhibits realization, Kageyama’s does not.

An uncomfortable length of time fills with nothing but Tanaka’s hollering laughter, and Suga notices Hinata’s cheeks start to colour as his eyes dart around the room. Still, Kageyama is confused.

“What?” Kageyama’s question is one of sheer puzzlement and Tanaka laughs so hard, he changes pitch.

It seems that neither Tanaka or Hinata sympathizes with the awkwardness Suga feels, because neither tries to help him explain himself. _Oh, If only Daichi were here._

During Suga’s lack of response, Kageyama seems to come to an understanding: “Oh I see. I guess you _could_ call us partners.” 

Suga has barely let out a sigh of relief, silently thanking the volleyball deities for blessing Kageyama with a sliver of intelligence, when his hope is swiftly crushed, “But wouldn’t the whole team technically be partners?”

Tanaka’s hysterical laughter echoes across the gymnasium and Suga doesn’t know if he wants to kick him or join him.

_Of course._ ‘When in doubt, think volleyball’ had always seemed to be Kageyama’s motto.

Suga doesn’t have the chance to correct him, however, because Hinata cuts in with forced enthusiasm, “Yes! Karasuno is such a great team, and everyone is partners with each other!” His cheeks are still scarlet but as he continues to gush about Karasuno’s teamwork, his enthusiasm soon becomes genuine.

Suga decides that it might be time for him to retire soon. He is certainly losing his touch.


	2. Tsukishima

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima audibly snickers at his newfound knowledge that even Kings can get jealous.
> 
> He reminisces about how horrible his morning was, and considers what he’s witnessing now. He realizes that life can truly turn around within minutes! He’s almost giggling now, suddenly filled with pure bliss.

To put it mildly, Tsukishima Kei is having a _displeasing_ day. 

It had started with a good-morning message from Yamaguchi informing him that he will not be attending school as he had come down with a low fever over the night — immediately establishing Tsukishima’s morning as anything but good — and promptly followed by the discovery that he had completed the wrong pages of his chemistry homework the night before. He had forgone breakfast and barely managed to fill out a few of the _correct_ pages of his textbook before the angle of the sun had alerted him of the time. His short homeroom period had nearly been over by the time he had left his house, and Tsukishima had been well on his way to being late for his first-period class with his most intolerant teacher.

Despite all of his efforts and long legs, he had made it to math class more than several minutes late, and was immediately awarded the _fantastic_ punishment of spending his lunch writing _”I will not be tardy”_ one hundred times on the chalkboard. 

The chain of misfortune had wickedly followed him to his second class the following period, where his incomplete homework assigned him three pages of chemistry in addition to the work from the previous day.

As he pushes through the last few minutes of the science lesson, Tsukishima counts down the hours left before this day is finally over.

—

Several minutes into his lunch, Tsukishima is finishing his seventeenth _”I will not be tardy”_ on the chalkboard and looking back on his disastrous morning. 

A tiny, illogical portion of his brain supplies that _maybe he had done something to deserve this_ , and he recalls his behaviour from the past couple days. He hadn’t done anything _particularly_ devious recently — well, nothing that the universe wouldn’t expect from him in the first place. Sure, he may have mocked Kageyama a few extra times this week — and he did deliberately knock Hinata over in the club room while the other was changing yesterday — but Tsukishima hardly believes that the universe would punish him on behalf of those two idiots. 

As he strains to identify what could have provoked such retribution, he hears the aforementioned idiots loudly approach the classroom. _Speak of the devils._

He keeps his back to the room and brings all of his focus to scribing on the chalkboard, hoping that if he pretends not to notice the duo hard enough, he’ll be invisible. Tsukishima does not have the energy to deal with Hinata’s enthusiasm or Kageyama’s imperious attitude today — or any day, for that matter.

Miraculously, his strategy seems to work because Hinata doesn’t pause his eager storytelling as he enters the classroom. Tsukishima would feel more triumphant of his ability to blend in had it not been for Hinata and Kageyama’s well-established lack of observation skills. 

Tsukishima focuses on his writing, hoping to barrel through the remaining sentences and remove himself from the classroom as fast as possible.

He’s soon betrayed by the piece of chalk in his hand when it delivers a brusque scratch to the board. He is certain that his teammates would hear him, but neither seem to register the noise from the other side of the room. He breathes a sigh of relief and returns to his punishment.

Tsukishima manages the sentence several dozen times — “tardy” barely looking like a real word anymore — when Hinata’s story captures his attention.

The tiny middle blocker seems to be prattling about a new friend he’s made in his class and Tsukishima’s begrudgingly beginning to concentrate on his words.

“And since we started talking, class is less boring — I can’t even imagine getting through Katsuragi-sensei’s lessons without Kaoru-kun’s jokes now,” Kageyama’s supplies an irritated scoff but Hinata carries on, “although we did get in trouble for being too—”

“Shouldn’t you be focusing in class?” Kageyama cuts in abruptly. Tsukishima scoffs, _As though the King himself has ever even tried to focus in his classes._

“It’s not like _you_ would ever focus in class!” Hinata retorts. 

Tsukishima internally debates with himself whether sharing the same thought process with Hinata is concerning for his intelligence. 

“And Kaoru-kun’s inviting me over to help me with my work this week!” Hinata continues, “I think I’ll be learning more than I would in class anyways.”

Kageyama doesn’t seem impressed with the response, “And what if that interferes with practice? Hinata, dumbass, that would be so irresponsible to the team.”

 _When did His Majesty ever think about what’s responsible to the team?_. Tsukishima wonders why the setter is acting even more pessimistic than usual, but quickly admonishes himself when he realizes that he's spending his precious time and energy on idiots.

Hinata responds with a pout, “It won’t interfere! Kaoru-kun knows how important volleyball is to me! He said he would never get in the way of the things I’m passionate about.”

Oh.

It certainly seems that this “Kaoru-kun” is interested in Hinata.

Tsukishima returns his focus to the board and pretends that “I will not be tardy” is the most interesting sentence in the world, refusing to let hinata’s love life jeopardize his ability to finish his lunch punishment. It lasts all but the eight seconds it takes for Karasuno’s setter to come up with a response.

“ _Oh_ , so now _Kaoru-kun_ understands volleyball?” Kageyama retaliates, drawing out the miserable boy’s name with so much unnecessary amount of venom, he can almost hear sneezes from down the hall, “And you sound ridiculous using such a casual form of address for someone you’ve barely just met. Does the poor boy not have a surname?”

_Oh._

Well that certainly explains the setter’s horrendous mood. Tsukishima audibly snickers at his newfound knowledge that even Kings can get jealous.

“Well I think it’s nice to be on casual terms with someone,” Hinata counters with a pout, “maybe you could try it sometimes.”

Tsukishima reminisces about how horrible his morning was, and considers what he’s witnessing now. He realizes that life can truly turn around within minutes! He’s almost giggling now, suddenly filled with pure bliss.

“Is that what you want, _Shōyō-kun_ , do you want everyone to just forget about formalities?” Kageyama counters with so much sass that even Tsukishima is a little impressed, “Shouldn’t we might as well get rid of honorifics in general, _Shōyō_?”

Hinata blushes at Kageyama saying his given name and stammers. “You know that’s not what I meant!” Tsukishima is momentarily taken aback by how soft he sounded.

Kageyama seems to be on the same page, because he quickly follows with an apology — of sorts, “I’m, I know— I have no idea what I’m saying,” Tsukishima has never heard the King sound remorseful before, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You,” Hinata’s pout morphs into an effortless smile. “you can call me Shōyō— If you want to!” he stammers out.

With how in sync they are on the court, Tsukishima would never have dreamed to witness so much awkwardness between the two. As disgustingly sappy as they look with their matching blushes — _gross_ — the freak duo’s discomfort is downright comical. Tsukishima wishes he could record this moment for a rainy day. He almost considers doing just that, but a voice in his mind tells him that documenting, or even thinking of such vulnerability between the two would be crossing a line — which is funny because all he had wanted to accomplish this lunch was to exonerate himself from his math teacher’s wrath; the idiots had barged into _his_ classroom.

Tsukishima evaluates the relative ethics and moral integrity of accidental eavesdropping for longer than he would ever admit to, and by the time his attention shifts back to the pair, they seemed to have managed to alleviate the awkwardness that had permeated the room.

To Tsukishima’s amusement, however, Hinata’s method of relieving the tension is by pushing straight through it, _idiot_. “If you were _jealous_ , Kageyama-kun, you could just say so.” Tsukishima audibly hums in disbelief; he has no idea what could have emboldened Hinata to say something so straightforward.

Fortunately for Hinata — or perhaps unfortunately — Karasuno can always count on Kageyama’s stupidity. “What— Why would I be jealous, _dumbass_!” Kageyama stammers. His blush is more saturated now, but Tuskishima doubts that he even knows why he’s blushing.

To protect himself from unreasonable guilt, Tsukishima figures that he should make his presence known soon, which also brings the realization that he is getting restless watching the two being so ferociously oblivious.

He finally speaks up, “You seem pretty jealous for someone who doesn’t have any reason to be,” upon the duo’s apparent shock, he adds on, “Your Highness.” Tsukishima hadn’t _intended_ to startle them, but he has to admit that their identically flabbergasted expressions are wonderfully entertaining.

After several seconds of stunned silence, Hinata squawks, “What— When did you get here?” at the same time as Kageyama’s defensive “I’m not jealous!”

“I’ve been in this room since before you two got here.” Tsukishima deadpans, not even acknowledging Kageyama’s declaration. He is truly exasperated by their stupidity but there is no way he’s going to let it show.

The sight of the two idiots’ appalled expressions followed by a variety of unconvincing — and barely coherent — excuses to leave was so delightful, it left Tsukishima in a state of genuine euphoria. By the time he realizes that he’s not even close to finishing his task, most of lunch has passed.

When his teacher returns to the classroom to check on his progress and sees the unfinished sentence under his chalk, Tsukishima isn’t even bothered by the disappointed look he gets. His day has just been too magnificent for anything to affect his mood. He’s still eleven sentences away from freedom, but he hasn’t felt this much joy in a long time.

—

Later that evening, after volleyball practice, Tsukishima sets out to Yamaguchi’s house to bring him his missed school work. There’s a spring in his step and he’s already piecing together how he’s going to tell Yamaguchi about his lunch “adventure”. 

Once he’s confirmed that Yamaguchi’s fever has mostly gone down, he eagerly reveals Kageyama and Hinata’s conversation at lunch and how thoroughly embarrassing it was to watch from the outside.

Yamaguchi snickers along to the story but his laughs trail off as he seems to consider something. “Do you think the two of them are…?” Yamaguchi asks, making a gesture with his hands that more closely resembles spinning a volleyball than two people being in a relationship, but Tsukishima picks up on what he is implying.

Tsukishima doesn’t really have an answer. He had been so occupied with the hilarity of the conversation throughout the day that he hadn’t paused to consider the implications. Sure, it’s ridiculously obvious that Hinata has a stupid crush on Kageyama, and the King’s jealousy is pretty damn incriminating, but those two in a relationship?

After a few moments of deliberation, Tsukishima affirms, “If they are, they’re definitely not smart enough to realize it.”

Yamaguchi nods along and giggles. “Either way, Tsukki, it sounds like your mind was occupied by those two for the better half of your day!” he teases. 

He seems a little satisfied with how flustered Tsukishima is upon the realization, but Tsukishima is at a loss for words, “Shut up, Yamaguchi.”

Despite his apparent attempt to hide his amusement, it’s still evident on Yamaguchi’s face. “Sorry, Tsukki!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first draft of this chapter was entirely just: they’re the only ones in the classroom and somehow Hinata and Kags just do not see him. Like, it’s actually hilarious how they just have a full blown conversation while Tsukki’s just writing his sentences on the board. Like, boy isn’t even trying to be quiet or subtle, Kags and Hinata are just completely unobservant. Such boke.
> 
> Hehe, kudos to you if you can guess where Kaoru-kun's name came from (the hint is in Hinata's teacher's name)
> 
> Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! <3


End file.
